Amanda Meuwissen's Blog - Posts Tagged "minnesota"
I Met Nathan Fillion at Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con!
Yes me, Incubus author Amanda Meuwissen, met Nathan Fillion at Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con with my husband John, and sold out ALL of the Incubus copies I brought along! I wish I could say Nathan was one of the buyers, but his agent did stop and chat at the BigWorldNetwork.com table.
I helped man our booth in Artist Alley for great sales and conversation with Creative Director Mario Hernandez, fellow authors Meagan Hedin and Daniel Mitchell, and artist Corrie Hardin.
The highlight, though, was definitely this awesome photo and chatting with Nathan while getting his autograph. You'll notice I am dressed for the occasion as Rogue from X-Men.
Next con on the agenda for me is CONvergence in Bloomington, MN!
I helped man our booth in Artist Alley for great sales and conversation with Creative Director Mario Hernandez, fellow authors Meagan Hedin and Daniel Mitchell, and artist Corrie Hardin.
The highlight, though, was definitely this awesome photo and chatting with Nathan while getting his autograph. You'll notice I am dressed for the occasion as Rogue from X-Men.
Next con on the agenda for me is CONvergence in Bloomington, MN!
CONvergence in Minnesota, FREE eBook Days, and More Blog Tours!
Wow, have things been busy. I spent my 4th of July weekend at CONvergence in Bloomington, MN, an annual convention for fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy in all media. It was a blast!
I tended the BigWorldNetwork table in the Dealer Room with the publisher's Creative Director, Mario Hernandez, and we sold several copies of Incubus and its sequel Changeling to eager readers.
The best moment was probably the very last pair of books I sold. I wrote a personal inscription in Incubus when I signed it, but since I also had Changeling to sign, I continued a tradition I'd started on day one by simply putting "This one has more sex ;-)". The woman who bought them came back to hug me for giving her the best inscriptions ever. I love people who love to read (and who love good humor and good sex).
I also had the pleasure of meeting one of my lifelong heroes, Marina Sirtis, who played my favorite female Star Trek character, Deanna Troi, and also voiced one of my favorite characters of all time, Demona from Disney's Gargoyles. She was amazing!
Today also marks the start of my most recent FREE eBook days for Incubus, July 8-12. Right now it stands at #48 in Gay Fiction.
And on top of the con and book deals, throughout it all, my blog tour with Enchanted Book Promotions continues. Take a look at the stops you may have missed below.
Interview at The Single Librarian
Excerpt at 365 Days of Reading
Interview at Majanka Verstraete's Blog
Excerpt at The Book Daily
Review at Forever Book Lover
More soon!
I tended the BigWorldNetwork table in the Dealer Room with the publisher's Creative Director, Mario Hernandez, and we sold several copies of Incubus and its sequel Changeling to eager readers.
The best moment was probably the very last pair of books I sold. I wrote a personal inscription in Incubus when I signed it, but since I also had Changeling to sign, I continued a tradition I'd started on day one by simply putting "This one has more sex ;-)". The woman who bought them came back to hug me for giving her the best inscriptions ever. I love people who love to read (and who love good humor and good sex).
I also had the pleasure of meeting one of my lifelong heroes, Marina Sirtis, who played my favorite female Star Trek character, Deanna Troi, and also voiced one of my favorite characters of all time, Demona from Disney's Gargoyles. She was amazing!
Today also marks the start of my most recent FREE eBook days for Incubus, July 8-12. Right now it stands at #48 in Gay Fiction.
And on top of the con and book deals, throughout it all, my blog tour with Enchanted Book Promotions continues. Take a look at the stops you may have missed below.
Interview at The Single Librarian
Excerpt at 365 Days of Reading
Interview at Majanka Verstraete's Blog
Excerpt at The Book Daily
Review at Forever Book Lover
More soon!
Blog Tour, MCBA Fall Con Recap, and more!
First of all, wow, thank you so much for the amazing tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. I had 110 people enter the raffle during the tour for a free eBook copy of both books. The winner was a dear and now has her prize, but I want to thank all of you for participating.
This past Saturday was the Midwest Comic Book Association (or MCBA)'s Fall Con, a yearly, one day event for comic book creators, authors, and artists to peddle their wares for fans. It was a blast. You can read more about the experience at the BigWorldNetwork blog, which also has links to more photos.
Lastly, I wanted to share some comments from the BWN site, where currently what will be book 3 of The Incubus Saga is being serialized. The commenter first had some great questions and suggestions for continuity fixes when I return to revise the episodes for the book - a huge help, as always! And then they had this to say:
"I downloaded book two from Amazon, and binge read it in a day. Now I can’t wait for Thursdays. I like that I don’t need to wait for the next book to be released. I’ve looked up other supernatural, gay, adventure, love stories. They are out there, but 99.9% of them are wolf and/or vampire. I don’t want to read gay Twilight. :( You using other supernatural legends makes for interesting reading. Thank you for continuing your series."
My pleasure! And there is plenty more to come. Stay tuned!
This past Saturday was the Midwest Comic Book Association (or MCBA)'s Fall Con, a yearly, one day event for comic book creators, authors, and artists to peddle their wares for fans. It was a blast. You can read more about the experience at the BigWorldNetwork blog, which also has links to more photos.
Lastly, I wanted to share some comments from the BWN site, where currently what will be book 3 of The Incubus Saga is being serialized. The commenter first had some great questions and suggestions for continuity fixes when I return to revise the episodes for the book - a huge help, as always! And then they had this to say:
"I downloaded book two from Amazon, and binge read it in a day. Now I can’t wait for Thursdays. I like that I don’t need to wait for the next book to be released. I’ve looked up other supernatural, gay, adventure, love stories. They are out there, but 99.9% of them are wolf and/or vampire. I don’t want to read gay Twilight. :( You using other supernatural legends makes for interesting reading. Thank you for continuing your series."
My pleasure! And there is plenty more to come. Stay tuned!
Impact Readers with Real Locations in Fiction
There are as many locations in fiction as the mind can think up, because fiction never needs to be based in reality. If you’re writing about colonization on the moon, chances are it’s not going to be based off of any real place. Even when writing contemporary fiction, there are no rules that say you HAVE to write about a real city; you can make one up, and many authors do.
But there is something to be said about taking real places, places that the author knows well or researches thoroughly, that can have even more personal impact for readers.
My series, The Incubus Saga, has many real life locations mentioned, particularly one of the main settings, my home of Minneapolis, MN, and its surrounding suburbs.
When I describe the apartment complex in St. Louis Park where the brothers in the story first meet Sasha Kelly, that’s a real location I passed on the bus many times.
When I describe what’s around Loring Park, those are real details.
Schuester’s high-rise apartment by Lake Calhoun? You better believe I salivate over those awesome lofts, and that I even looked up the apartment layouts to give an accurate description of that building’s accommodations.
Obviously, there is some liberty taken with specifics, interior design, and the view a certain Irish Pub might have of the city it overlooks, but I always strive to capture a real location and give details someone who lives there might recognize. If someone happens to live in Chicago, Pittsburgh, or even Rushville, MO, it may not be as detailed as I can make my own hometown, but it will be as close as I can get it.
How do you use real locations in your fiction? Do you prefer to always make locations up instead? If you do use real places, feel free to share pictures or details of the town/city/location that inspired the setting of your story and why it was included.
But there is something to be said about taking real places, places that the author knows well or researches thoroughly, that can have even more personal impact for readers.
My series, The Incubus Saga, has many real life locations mentioned, particularly one of the main settings, my home of Minneapolis, MN, and its surrounding suburbs.
When I describe the apartment complex in St. Louis Park where the brothers in the story first meet Sasha Kelly, that’s a real location I passed on the bus many times.
When I describe what’s around Loring Park, those are real details.
Schuester’s high-rise apartment by Lake Calhoun? You better believe I salivate over those awesome lofts, and that I even looked up the apartment layouts to give an accurate description of that building’s accommodations.
Obviously, there is some liberty taken with specifics, interior design, and the view a certain Irish Pub might have of the city it overlooks, but I always strive to capture a real location and give details someone who lives there might recognize. If someone happens to live in Chicago, Pittsburgh, or even Rushville, MO, it may not be as detailed as I can make my own hometown, but it will be as close as I can get it.
How do you use real locations in your fiction? Do you prefer to always make locations up instead? If you do use real places, feel free to share pictures or details of the town/city/location that inspired the setting of your story and why it was included.
